Anthropological Analysis and ‘Urf Review from the Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah Perspective of the Tengger Tribe: Preserving Honor in the Walagara Tradition

Abstract

This study examines the interlegal negotiation experienced by the Muslim community of the Tengger Tribe in relation to the Walagara customary marriage ritual. In the Tengger social order, Walagara functions as an indispensable marker of customary legitimacy, even for marriages that have already been validated through an Islamic marriage contract and state registration. The central dilemma arises because the authentic Walagara procession contains ritual elements such as mantras, offerings, and symbolic communication with ancestral or cosmological entities, which may be problematized from the perspective of formal Islamic jurisprudence. Using a qualitative case study with an ethnographic orientation, this research was conducted in Ngadas and Sukapura Villages through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. The findings show that Tengger Muslims do not simply combine Islamic and customary rituals. Rather, they navigate overlapping legal spaces through a model of sequential demarcation: ijab qabul and KUA registration are performed to secure Islamic and state legality. At the same time, Walagara is conducted separately to obtain customary recognition and protect family honor. This arrangement produces a distinctive interlegal identity in which Muslim actors remain faithful to Islamic marital validity while maintaining their belonging within the Tengger customary community. The study also shows that honor in this context is socially operationalized through recognition, family reputation, avoidance of the stigma of kumpul kebo, and continued participation in customary life. While cognitive reframing enables Muslim Tengger actors to interpret Walagara as a social custom rather than worship, this study argues that such reframing must be understood as conditional and context-dependent, not as an automatic neutralization of all theological objections. The article contributes to debates on legal pluralism, ‘urf, and Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah by showing how ḥifẓ al-dīn and ḥifẓ al-‘irḍ are negotiated within a plural customary society.